Dial 101... and police cut you off

THOUSANDS of calls to the new non-emergency police number have gone unanswered in its first few months.

The line is to report offences such as vandalism, car crime or knowledge of local drug dealing

On more than 15,000 occasions, people were cut off or hung up before their call to the 101 line was answered, new figures have revealed. The deserted calls accounted for five per cent of the 288,812 calls made since the service was launched in February.

The line is to report offences such as vandalism or car crime, or to let local officers know about suspected drug dealing. It was introduced to take the strain off the 999 emergency call service.

Emergency calls in Scotland fell by an average of 1,358 a month compared with the four months before the 101 line went live. Yesterday Police chiefs were urged to solve what were described as “more than teething problems”. The figures were revealed in a reply to a Freedom of Information request made by the Scottish Conservative Party.

Tory chief whip John Lamont said: “One of the main aims of the new 101 number was to reduce pressure on 999, but calls to the main emergency number have barely fallen.

One of the main aims of the new 101 number was to reduce pressure on 999, but calls to the main emergency number have barely fallen.

Tory chief whip John Lamont

“These figures also show that too many callers are not getting through, which might make them less likely to use the non-emergency number in the future. With almost 6,000 calls going unanswered in May alone, clearly the system is ­suffering from more than teething problems.

“The Scottish Government was well aware the introduction of a non-emergency number risked confusion without proper publicity campaigns, but once again has failed to heed the warnings.”

Earlier this year, it emerged that the proportion of calls to the 101 service in England classed as “abandoned” amounted to four per cent of all calls.